Summative evaluations, on the other hand, are performed near the end or upon completion of a program in order to provide an overall assessment of the program’s effectiveness (Mertens & Wilson, 2012; Rossi et al., 2004). Extension faculty may elect to provide program participants with a summative evaluation at the immediate conclusion of the program, or they may opt to delay collection, asking participants to respond after a designated period of time. This type of feedback provides valuable information about the overall success of the program, which is often necessary for accountability and reporting purposes throughout the year. Customer Satisfaction: The world of the Extension professional is not limited to programs alone. There are many times that an agent might receive a phone call or office visit from a client seeking information. These interactions with the community can be just as valuable as those created through programs and should also be assessed. One common way to capture client perceptions regarding these types of interactions is through customer satisfaction surveys. Such surveys can be used to identify perceptions about the quality of services provided by Extension, while also uncovering attributes such as program parity (how well the program represents the demographics of the surrounding county).
Typical Survey Assessment Types
Pretest-Posttest Model
The pretest-posttest model is a common technique for capturing change in Extension programming (Allen & Nimon, 2007; Rockwell & Kohn, 1989). In this model, a pretest is given to participants prior to starting the program to measure the variable(s) of interest, the program (or intervention) is implemented, and then a posttest is administered to measure the same variable(s) of interest again (Gall, Gall, & Borg, 2003). With measurements being collected at the beginning and end of the program, program effects are often revealed by calculating the differences between the two measures (Pratt et al., 2000). Many times, this approach is used to conduct actual assessments of knowledge, which moves away from a self-reported construct of knowledge gain (see Figure 10 on the following page).
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